After taking care of the bear, we collected its corpse and climbed up the mountain. As no other monsters stood a chance against us, we smoothly finished Alaska in a day.
I was curious about the energy that ignored the dungeon's power, but there wasn't anything in Alaska. I had to suspect that there might be something in Canada or America. Of course, it was entirely possible that Alaska was just a decoy with the real thing being in Greenland.
It felt like a waste to just leave Alaska, so we spent the night camping out and enjoying the scenery. As promised, I cut off some of the grizzly bear monster's paw and cooked it for everyone to taste.
[Kuuuuu.]
[Kyuu? Kyuu kyuu?]
It seemed Laki and Luna could communicate, as despite being an undead, Laki had intelligence. While Laki talked to Luna like an elder giving valuable advice, Luna listened in closely. Daisy and Yua watched their undead and tamed beast communicate with interest.
I, on the other hand, sat on the side and started maintenance on my spear. Since I didn't know what I'd have to face, I figured I should have my weapon in top condition.
"Shin."
Someone suddenly called me carefully.
"Ye-Eun."
"Can I sit next to you?"
"Of course."
I stuck my spear into the ground and poured in mana. The ground near the spear rose up slightly, and Dortu coated it with metal to create a simple chair. Finally, Sharana then blew wind to heat up the metal. Ye-Eun sat down on it with surprise.
"Wow, it's warm."
"It's the power of elementals."
"I wish I had an elemental too."
"Mm… You have to be born like this."
I replied as I scratched my head. Although Ciara gave me the ability to wield elementals, she couldn't just give it to anyone she wanted. It was possible only because I had the talent. As this talent was extremely rare, not everyone could become an Elementalist just because they wanted.
Ye-Eun lightly clicked her tongue, let out a dry cough, and spoke carefully.
"Shin, sorry. I wasn't really helpful today."
"No, you protected Daisy and Yua."
"But my dream was to fight alongside Shin."
"The day will come soon. You have the talent and your growth speed is shocking. I don't know why but everyone in Revival is more or less a genius."
I didn't need to explain for Hwaya, and there were two others with terrifying growth speed. One was Sumire, who might be even more talented than me in spearmanship, and the other was Ye-Eun, who was breezing through the dungeon purely with her talent.
"Uuu, still, I was too pathetic today…"
Ye-Eun looked down. She buried her face in her knees and though I felt sorry to say this, Ye-Eun was cute when she was down. I lightly stroked Ye-Eun's hair. Immediately, she pushed her head towards me. Of course, with her face still buried in her knees.
"Pet my head more, please."
"What's up with that request."
"… It feels like my soul is being healed."
"That much!?"
I planned to continue until she told me to stop, but because she didn't say anything for a long time, I took my hand off myself. Ye-Eun then spoke.
"I waited because Shin told me to wait…"
"Uh, yeah."
When did I tell her to wait? For what? I tilted my head. Just when I was about to say something, Ye-Eun spoke in a faint voice.
"Before I noticed, Shin's dating another girl…"
So that's what she meant! I made a bitter smile. The topic matched what I wanted to talk to her about.
"Remember what I told you, Ye-Eun? I…"
"It's my fault for not being able to give up. You're right, Shin. You already told me everything, so you don't need to feel guilty."
Contrary to what she was saying, her voice was full of regret. I stole a glance at Yua and Daisy. Their attention seemed to be on Laki and Luna, but I created a barrier of wind around us just in case they could hear us.
"Yeah, about that… I didn't think I'd have the time for relationships, but… It wasn't something I could really control. Sorry."
If I were Ye-Eun, I would have hit me.
"Shin, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"You're not dating just one person, right?"
As expected of an assassin, she goes right for the throat! I sweated as I replied.
"Uh… yeah."
"Do they both know?"
"… There might not be just two."
I looked at the mountain far away. Ye-Eun coughed incontrollably.
"You playboy!"
"This was the only choice I had. I've gotten too close to them, and I have to keep seeing them. What would you have done if you were in my shoes?"
"… Right, Shin's the world's hero. Not just Earth's, but other worlds' too."
Even with a bitter smile, Ye-Eun finally nodded.
"I know. You've built bonds I can't even dream of with those people. Bonds that are too deep for me to talk about and too strong to be cut."
"Sorry, I didn't know things would turn out this way."
"Like I said, you don't have to feel sorry. It's just…"
Ye-Eun raised her head. I thought she was crying, but she wasn't. Her eyes were shining with a light I'd never seen before. Feeling the energy squirming inside her, I flinched.
"I'm the one at fault for not being able to give up."
"… Even if there are more than three?"
"Un."
I couldn't help but think of Ye-Eun as peculiar.
"I might not look like it, but I'm very tenacious. You know why I'm in Revival, right?"
"I do."
Ye-Eun was in Revival because of her feelings for me. That was how it began, and it was probably still the same. Although it would be troubling if she said she'd leave now, once the danger Earth was facing was taken care of, things would be different.
"I told you before, right? That thing wouldn't just end with Earth."
"Yeah… You also said not everyone has to follow you."
Earth's problem was ours to solve. But that didn't mean they had to care about other worlds too.
Because of the promises I made to my allies, my personal goal, the invaders' and dungeon's secret, I planned to continue saving other worlds, but that didn't mean everyone had to follow me.
"I'm going to follow you until the end."
"Ye-Eun, you're twenty-two. There are other things you can do than risking your life to fight worlds' enemies. Think about it more carefully."
"Shin, you're also twenty-two."
Now that she mentioned it…
"Also, I don't think things will end just by killing this Demon Lord and the other world's enemy."
"… It will. On Earth, at least."
"Don't try to trick me, Shin… You know something, right?"
I flinched. Ye-Eun smiled and continued.
"I'm always watching Shin, so I know at least that much. Plus, I'm probably not the only one."
"Mmm."
"Shin, can I continue staying by your side?"
I didn't need to explain about Daisy and Loretta, and Ludia and Hwaya didn't live ordinary lives either. Ludia experienced many things as an empire's princess, and Hwaya learned magic from a young age, fighting monsters even before we met. Their values were different than ordinary people's.
Otherwise, they couldn't like seeing their man being chased by other women. No, perhaps they still didn't like that but were enduring it. … They were enduring it, right?
In any case, Ye-Eun was different. She's an ordinary Korean girl who suddenly awakened as an ability user.
Despite that, she had to take on the weight of Revival's mission and was currently asking to follow me fully knowing the truth behind Earth's danger. I could simplify everything by calling her foolish, but I knew that wasn't it.
"To be honest, I think Shin won't accept me otherwise."
She really was honest.
"You want to go through all that trouble just for a man? Even though you don't know how long you'll have to wait?"
"Un!'
"There are other fish in the sea, Ye-Eun. Guys that are a lot better than me."
"But there's only one Shin."
Ye-Eun's eyes were serious, so I decided to be the same.
"To be honest, I still only think of you as a friend."
"… Hold on, let me go cry in a corner."
Ye-Eun was KO'ed in one blow. I stopped Ye-Eun from getting up and sat her back down.
"Will you still stay in Revival?"
"… Un, I can't give up."
"You know you've only known me for a year and a half, right?"
Feelings came and went. I couldn't recommend her to stay in Revival just for me. There had to be some other reason. Otherwise, she would only suffer.
However, Ye-Eun's answer was something to behold.
"How can a love end when it's hasn't begun? Also, how can I worry about it ending when it never began? How is anyone going to do anything if they're afraid of it ending?"
This is why someone with no relationship experience should say anything. I made a self-mocking smile and hit my head. Then, I looked at Ye-Eun.
"Then… Let's just wait and see how it goes. We might not know when it'll end, but that also means we don't know when it'll begin."
"… Romantic words don't fit you, Shin."
"Funny."
"Hehe."
Ye-Eun finally smiled. I got up.
"Then let's try closing the distance between us first, Ye-Eun."
"C-Closing the d-distance!? O-Okay, take good care of me please…"
I ignored Ye-Eun's joke and continued.
"Do you remember what I told you before? About compressing your energy."
"Ah, that invisible aura, right? I tried it once when I was resting, but it's way too difficult."
"You can do it. Maybe not as well as me, but you can still get stronger."
Ye-Eun was an assassin, someone whose attacks had to be more lethal than anyone else. She learned a special ability to control her shadow from Duca. Once she learned how to compress her aura, I had confidence she would come up with an awesome skill I couldn't even imagine.
I took out my spear. An enormous amount of aura began to be concentrated in it, and Ye-Eun gulped when she saw it.
"We have time. Until you can do this with your dagger, I'll teach you."
"You will?"
"Yeah."
I was already teaching Sumire. Adding Ye-Eun wouldn't make a difference. With their talent almost being equal, I knew they could do it. Plus, aura compression wasn't a matter of weapons but a matter of mana. The fact that Ye-Eun used daggers wouldn't change anything.
"I'll do it! Please take good care of me!"
"Good."
I didn't know what she was so happy about, but she nodded her head vehemently and shouted. Her innocent outer appearance sometimes made people forget, but given the chance, she was a battle maniac on par with Duca. She didn't have a chance to shine because the enemies we fought were too strong, but as she continued to grow by climbing the dungeon and building up achievements, she would start to change.
Extremely so.
Just like that, Ye-Eun started to learn about mana from me. Of course, with Daisy and Yua interrupting us in the middle childishly, we couldn't get too far that day.